The Ways of the Ranger
by PercyandCassandra
Summary: Ranger's Apprentice. Halt's weakness leads him to a revelation with Will. Slash, not a oneshot anymore! Rated T just in case.
1. The Ranger's Ways

**Disclaimer; I don't own Ranger's Apprentice. (but maybe if I wish it hard enough...)**

The Ways of the Ranger

As Halt entered the room, he could feel panic radiating from his skin, his stance, even his clothing.

No number of years as a ranger, no matter how great, could prepare him for this.

For falling in love.

For falling in love with one of his own.

He could see the rise and fall of Will's sleeping chest, and the most bizarre desire overtook him; all Halt wanted to do at that moment was to sit on the bed next to Will and trace the boy's ribs with his long fingers.

He could see the ribcage protruding when the sleeping angel exhaled.

Halt closed his eyes momentarily, not wanting to block out the beautiful sight but needing the darkness in order to compose himself.

To tell the truth, Halt was afraid. Deathly afraid. Afraid of Will awakening. Afraid of what the boy would think when he saw his teacher standing above him in the night. Afraid of what would become of him if ignorant Will ever discovered the feelings Halt tried so desperately to hide.

Halt could hide from anyone, anything. He could disguise himself as any other living creature on the planet. He could hide objects in places they wouldn't be found in for centuries.

But the one thing that mattered, the one thing that required utmost secrecy, was of course the one thing that Halt the ranger was incapable of hiding any longer.

Halt moved closer to the bed, swaying slightly in the night air, breathing in the scent of twilight and the scent of his sleeping beauty all at once.

He reached the bed and stood stock-still, barely breathing, afraid that oxygen might ignite hopes Halt dared not have.

Halt blinked slowly, not even trusting himself with open eyes.

And then he sat, so slowly it was hard to believe the man was moving at all until his mottled cloak made contact with the blanket on the bed.

He stretched out his hand, not sure of what he was doing, not knowing how to stop himself.

And then Halt let his long fingers brush the skin on the shoulder of the boy he'd loved for years, the child he knew he could never lose.

And the world flipped over and inside out.

Halt pulled back in an instant, startled and scared, blown away by what he'd let himself do. Gone were the months of avid restraint. Wasted were the months of concealment, the months of agony.

Everything destroyed in a moment of weakness, in a single touch.

Shocked and appalled, Halt slid off the bed and onto the floor, silent as the trees.

And in his bewilderment, in his frenzy, he'd missed the movement that would from that point on change his life.

Will had woken up and seen, and felt, and understood, and in the moment that Halt touched the ground Will rolled over in bed and stretched a hand out to the ranger on the floor.

Halt saw the movement out of the corner of his eye too late. He jumped away, startled, springing to his feet like a cat.

"Will," he started, his breathing rapid, his eyes darting this way and that in a terrified panic, "Will, it's…it's not…"

But the boy just looked up at him, silent, unmoving. And then he raised his arm until his hand stretched out to the man standing in front of him. "_It's okay,"_ Will whispered. _"I love you, too."_

And Halt's brain seemed to explode as Will's hand found his sleeve, pulling him closer and into a kiss as silent and hidden as the ways of the ranger.


	2. Never Come Back

**Hey; so this is part 2 of my previous story "The Ways of the Ranger". It **_**is **_**slash, so be warned. **

**Disclaimer; I don't own ****Ranger's Apprentice****. (but if anyone knows where I can get it….)**

**This piece was written for Moonshinemustardseed, AlphaWolfsKitten, and me, PercyandCassandra; the WillHalt pioneers!**

Halt frowned and curled his arms around his stomach, watching as a stew bubbled morosely in the pot on the stove.

It had been nearly a week since his breakdown in Will's room.

And as of yet, neither of them had breathed a word about it.

At first, Halt had rationalized that perhaps it was better if it was forgotten. The totally incomprehensible urge that had taken him must be suppressed. Halt knew how wrong it was for him to feel this way.

But in the moments that Halt spent alone, all he could hear was his boy, his angel, saying the only three words that had the power to bring the Ranger down, in the perfect silence of the night. All he could feel was the sacred touch of Will's fingers on his wrist as he was pulled down, down, down to a place so beautiful he could hardly breathe.

And in those moments, even as he recognized how wrong it was for him to feel the way he did, in his heart the only thing he wanted was to go back to the place that had changed his life, with the one person who had touched his heart.

Halt wanted to believe that Will had meant what he said that night. And a part of him, the part that was so blinded by his own desire that it latched desperately on to any shred of hope, believed that Will had. But if he had truly loved him, why did he not say it now?

In a moment of horror, the thought struck Halt that perhaps Will did not remember the encounter at all. Perhaps the little angel had been asleep when Halt had entered his room, and the words that he had spoken had been merely dreams to the boy, meant for someone else.

Halt shook his head forcefully at no one in particular. He could not believe that, he could _not. _Thinking that way would destroy him, he knew it.

A loud pop from the stew pot broke the quiet, and as Halt shifted to stir the mixture, he moved with a slow kind of heaviness that only showed the beginning of the weight he felt inside.

Darkness descended on the small hut too late for the Ranger's liking. Halt hated the long days of August that forced him to spend too much time awake, especially now when dreams seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive.

Will had not looked up once during dinner, he realized as he shifted a chair back into place around the table.

This simple truth hurt Halt more than expected, and for a moment the man just stood, letting the pain wash over him.

Halt moved slowly as he made his final inspection of the cabin. He paused in the kitchen to straighten out a rug, and again in the hall to re-arrange a picture hanging on the wall.

But the pause he made at the door to his apprentice's room was especially long, and the Ranger stood so still beside the doorframe that one would not have been able to see him breathe.

Halt moved his hand over the worn wood of the door, letting his fingers slide along the grain, aching at the notion of never being closer than this to the one he loved, of there always being a door…

A burn exploded in the pit of Halt's stomach, eating up his composure so fast that his shoulders literally began to shake.

His agony totally consumed him, his heartbreak exploding to a magnitude that was too incredible for the Ranger to bear.

Was he to live the rest of his life like this? Watching Will grow, training him, never being closer to him than an arrow's length. Halt could not imagine spending every day in the presence of the one who meant more to him than anything, spending every waking hour hiding the part of him that brought him the most joy and the most pain.

Tears sprang to his eyes, a sensation so foreign to Halt that his mind momentarily cleared at the shock.

But in the clearing, Halt could only see the door, and in that instant he hated the separation it caused with a fire that drove him to do the unthinkable;

To open it.

Suddenly Halt was inside the room, back at the place where he started, back at the source of his joy and his pain.

Blinking in amazement and in an attempt to stem his futile tears, Halt's eyes adjusted to the dark and he was able to see Will's small frame hurtling across the room towards him.

The little angel was in front of Halt before he had time to breathe, and Will's arms were around his midriff so tightly that he thought his ribs would crack.

"Thank God," Will whispered, his voice shaking almost as hard as his small body in Halt's strong arms.

"Thank God. I thought you would never come back."


End file.
